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Bravado Behind Softbank's Sprint Deal

Japan's Softbank said it will buy a 70% stake in U.S. mobile carrier Sprint Nextel in the biggest-ever overseas acquisition by a Japanese company. The WSJ's Yun-Hee Kim has the details.

By

Daisuke Wakabayashi,

Anton Troianovski and

Spencer E. Ante

Updated Oct. 16, 2012 12:59 a.m. ET

TOKYO—Softbank Corp.'s $20 billion takeover of Sprint Nextel Corp. is a calculated bet that the Japanese company can once again fix up a troubled mobile carrier and use it to rattle the industry's leaders.